eBirdsearch.org updates

The last little while I’ve been working on revamping my eBirdsearch.org site. There are a few new features in the works: mobile support, searching notable sightings, linking to returned data sets for easy sharing of information and listing hotpots (popular birding locations) in a region.

Even though ebirdsearch.org is by far my least popular open source project, I’m still delighted by the damn thing! I check it daily to see what’s been seen in my area, what birds are found each month – and whenever I travel outside of my usual birding zone, it’s an invaluable resource to find new places to bird. So despite it’s unpopularity, I think it’s worth investing more time and effort.

The new version is completely refactored. It wasn’t a particularly big script, but the code had already gotten pretty unwieldly. The new version is modularized using requireJS and underscore for client-side templating. It’s much better now (albeit admittedly a little over-engineered at this stage).

btw, this weekend I’ll also be releasing a new generatedata.com version – I’ve had some pull requests that need to be rolled out.